[Johann Bernard Bauer, circa 1810] after Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671-1750)

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PAIR OF GERMAN TABLE GLOBES
[Johann Bernard Bauer, circa 1810] after Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671-1750)
A rare pair of globes from Nuremberg's leading globe maker, marking the cusp between antiquity with the last appearance of Frisland's fictitious shores on a globe, and modernity with the display of the latest cartography from Australia.

Each globe made up of 24 hand-coloured engraved-half gores applied to the spheres; the Celestial untitled with stars given to six orders of magnitude, the gores laid to the celestial poles; the Terrestrial with cartouche to South Pacific Exprimit Globus hic noster quiduid Geographia recentisima ex observationibus fide dignis de ambitu terrarum mariumque hactenus exhibuit Meridianus primus per Insulam Fer inter Canarias occidentalissimam ductus, a quo Parisiensis Meridianus, probatissimarum observationum testimonio 20 Gradibus, Norimbergensis vero 28 Gr. 40 Min distat, the oceans marked with routes of several voyagers from Magellan to Cook, the antipodes of London marked, the Great Wall of China shown and part of the coast of Friesland delineated in the Atlantic; each supported in graduated brass meridian rings with original hour rings and pointers at north poles, sitting in oak stands with octagonal horizon rings laid with hand-coloured engraved calendrical scales.
18 x 18 x 18in. (46 x 45.5 x 45.5cm.)

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Lot Essay

These rare and interesting globes are not only a testimony to the longevity of Nuremberg's leading globe maker, but also to the rise of globe making in England.

Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr (1671-1750) was professor of Mathematics at the Aegidien Gymnasium in Nuremberg from 1704, globe-making was only a small part of his general efforts to encourage interest in science, in particular the progressive work of the likes of Newton, Huygens and Descartes, and transmission of this knowledge throughout Europe. His globes were re-issued long after his death by both Wolfgang Paul Jenig (d.1805) and finally Johann Bernard Bauer (1752-1839).

The current terrestrial globe has been updated from Doppelmayr's publications to include the route of Captain Cook's third voyage (1779). The inclusion of Cook's route and marking the antipodes of London is a sign of the rising competition from the leading English globe makers at the time, and the need to keep up with their cartography. Seemingly at odds with this modernisation of the globe is the antiquarian cartography which includes Frisland in the Atlantic, the last appearance of the fictitious island on the globe.

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